It's like self love, Like you got the confidence one day of like, yeah, I deserve this. I am very proud of myself, but then the next day it's oh god, oh no, people think I'm a joke that could be sparked because you see one comment, and I used to do this. I'm going to be honest. I would scroll through comments until I found a negative one, scrolled through thousands of positive until I found a negative one. And that would be when I would turn off my phone,
which is so unhealthy. Hey everyone, welcome back to On Purpose, the number one health podcast in the world. Thanks to each and every single one of you who come back every week to listen, learn and grow. Now you know that I'm always on the lookout to speak to people that I find interesting, fascinating, and often people that we don't know so much about them as a human, as an individual. We see them on the big screen, we watch them at home, we see them on our phones,
but we don't know too much about them. And today's guest is someone who I've been watching binge watching religiously on Netflix on her show, never have I ever I'm talking about none other than my three Rama Krishnan, who's an actress known for her leading role as davy Vishra Kumar in the Netflix teen comedy series Never Have I Ever. In twenty nineteen, she was chosen by Mindy Kaling out of fifteen thousand candidates that applied for an open casting
call for the show. She created her audition tape at a local library using her mother's camera, eventually being asked to send four more videos before having a screen test in la and being offered the role in twenty nineteen. Today, she's been named as one of the eighteen Groundbreakers, a list of girls who were breaking down barriers and changing the world in twenty twenty one, and she was named a breakout actor in Time one hundreds most Influential People.
She was back for a second season and Never Have I Ever, and it was also announced that she will start in the Netflix romantic comedy The Netherfield Girls. Welcome to the show, My three, Rama, Christian and my three Thank you so much for doing this, Thank you for having me. Yeah, I've really been looking forward to this because I remember when season one came out and me and my wife literally watched the whole season in one night, and we were both just like, oh, my gosh, this
show is so addictive. And you know, for us, it was interesting watching it because my wife and I, both from South Asian backgrounds, were born and raised in London, and so to see the somewhat South Asian experience portrayed through the show in the United States was a learning curve for us. It was you know, it was unique
for us. It wasn't the same at all. I wanted to ask you show aside, tell us about what it was like growing up as a South Asian young woman in the United States and sorry in Canada for you. For me, it was a little different to Davy because I was no blessed to have people from all sorts of backgrounds you know, in class with me, which was really awesome because I got to learn about everyone's you know, backgrounds and cultures and identities and just life stories in general,
which exposed me to a lot. But then also like really pushed me to figure out, Okay, how do you identify as a tumbled Canadian? Like what does that actually really mean to you? And I'm really thankful for my upbringing and I have to give a shout out to
my parents. I wouldn't have said this, like, however, many years ago, but I realized now very quickly, with everything that's happened, I'm only like half of what I am, or like even a quarter of what I am like without them, you know what I'm saying, Like I need them to be who I am. So yeah, I love
that tell us about something. Growing up like you said that, you would have felt like, oh, my parents are weird or I don't really connect with them, or I don't agree with them, And now you're like, oh, you were so right, Like, tell me about something that changed. I'm actually glad you asked that, because usually, like I get asked the question like, oh, you're parents like supportive of you going into acting, which is super valid as a question. As you know, reality has a lot of South Asian
parents aren't right. It's a very you know, tricky field to go into entertainment. But my parents are very supportive. My dad growing up was always like, yeah, whatever you need, like, we'll figure it out, we'll get you there, we'll do whatever you got, do whatever you want, be whoever you want, but just be the best you can be at it. But despite all that, now looking back I realize how supportive and like how much they were there for me.
Growing up as like a kid, I always felt like the outsider, you know, like in my family, like sort of like the black sheep. Because my brother, he's two years older than me. I'm the younger one, so I'm like the stereotypical, you know, younger rebellious sibling. And my brother was the good studious one and who loved reading books, while I'd rather just go to like an amusement park,
you know, I'm going to read a book whatever. So I like I couldn't connect with my family for the long as time until I realized, like, wait, my home is like really cool to talk to you, and I it's like, you know, I don't like you've experienced as I'm sure you have. I feel like a lot of kids have. It's that moment where you stop necessarily idolizing your parents, thinking like, oh my god, they're everything and
they're amazing, they can do nothing wrong. And then maybe you see them cry once and you're like, r, that's a little a little gross, or like they do something and you're like, oh, I actually like disagree with you on that. And I think when those moments started happening, I started humanizing them, and I'm like, yeah, yeah, I think that's that's her little tangent. Yeah, no, I love that.
That's a great answer. I really appreciate you opening up and letting us in because you know, I love the character you play on the show, but on this show and on purpose, my whole focus is on you as a human and an individual. So I'm excited to get to know you know, my three Like, that's the person that I'm really interested in and fascinated by and in your journey. So thank you for being so open already
and sharing stories. And now now that we all know that your brother's this super intelligent, he's also like like he's the book smart one, but I'm the street smart one, and he knows it, got it, got it. Well, it's funny because I have a younger sister. What's your age different? Two years? You said, so, my younger sisters four years younger than me, And it's the other way around. I'm the rebel. I'm the kid who got into trouble. I experimented,
and she's like just the sweetest souls. We traded places. But no, I love what you're saying, and you know, I think it's so important to recognize that, like you said, it's always easy to look back and point fingers at our parents and be like, oh, they didn't let me do that, or they were they were wrong about this, but to be able to say and I feel the same way as you. You know, I look back at the things my parents forced me to do, and now I look back and I'm just like, wow, I'm so
glad you forced me to do that. And you know, I think I think it's a good, good reflection. I wanted to talk about, you know, what were you like growing up as a child? Have you have you always been outgoing and you said rebellious. I want to hear a bit about that rebellious side, like what was your rebellion leading you too? Yeah? I mean I've always been like an extroverted, you know person. I always would talk
to everyone growing up. My mom's rule was if she didn't know their parents, I wasn't going over to their house. Not happening so quickly, my GameCube, my Nintendo GameCube, became my best friend. And so I'm like pretty good at all those of your games. But that's why I also picked up a bunch of different like hobbies like drawing and painting and singing and playing piano, and you know, just doing these things by myself, and which I'm you know, one of those things I'm very thankful for because I
have all those skills now. But in terms of like the rebellious side, that's actually from my parents too, in the sense it's like the sense of justice. My parents have always raised me to speak about what I believe in.
If I see an injustice, speak up for it. If I see someone you know in trouble or like getting bullied or just picked on wrongfully, doesn't matter if you don't know them, go stand up for them, like speak your mind, and like you know, like the whole term of like code switching that many you know people of color do. I never did that, And that's truly because my mom especially raised me to believe you don't have to you just do you be who you are. Don't
be a brat, but be who you are. You don't need to hide yourself or not speak your mind in a family party or in this professional setting. If you see something wrong, you speak up. My mom literally raised me as a kid and said, if someone ever punches you, you have one punchback. Make it count. Not what my mom would say to me, so, did you ever exercise
that advice? Did you ever use that advice? No, I don't think I ever like did unless it was probably with a fight against my brother or something, or maybe like with my cousins. But definitely that energy was very much so there where my friends and knew like, okay, my tree like stands up for what she believes in. I was very well acquainted in high school with the
principal's office, not for like bad things. The principle and I got along very well actually, but if I saw something go down with like a teacher and a student, like I'm there and I'm like, this is what's happening. You need to figure this out. This is wrong. No, I love that. I love that. Yeah, we need we need more people who speak up and stand up and don't just let things happen. By the sides, I'm intrigued.
You said that that you developed a lot of skills because your parents were like if I don't know, their parents are not allowed to go out. I wonder did you get quite comfortable even though you're an extra. I'm interested did you get comfortable spending time alone? And do you think that has stayed the same more, are you kind of like, no, no, no, I don't like being alone. Oh okay, so that's thank you for asking that too, because this is something I always wanted to talk about
as well. Like I up until probably my last year of high school, hated being alone. Like I hated it. I had sitting with my own thoughts. I hated just sitting with myself, having going to talk to myself, have to entertain myself because I didn't like myself. For the longest time, I would rather be anyone else, you know, and throughout like you know, school, I would always surround myself like a bunch of different people just to like,
you know, hang out with. And the more people I had meant, the more opportunities to go out, the more stories and like conversations I could have that weren't with myself. Until you know, in grade twelve, I was forced to have those conversations with myself and realize, oh, I really don't like being alone. This is not fun. The whole reason I did after school theater was because I wanted something to do after school that would keep me at school and not send me home. Wow, that was the
reason I started it. And then I'm obviously so thankful. But that's how I got into acting. Wow, that's amazing. I love hearing that. That's that's that's awesome that you were able to find something through actually being like, oh, I'm just using this as an escapism, but it actually became your life. Cut up. It caught up to me. I had to learn how to like sit in my own silence, which now I'm better at. I'm not perfect at it, and I don't think anyone really is. It's
a growing journey because you're changing yourself. But I'm less harsh on myself as an individual in that way. Ye still in general, very art of myself. But yeah, yeah, yeah, I wanted to know you said that earlier. You were like, you know, up until you finished high school, You're like, oh, I really didn't enjoy being by myself. You're like, I
didn't like myself. Tell us a bit about that, because I think that's a very common experience, but it's not commonly talked about because we don't hear people say that, Like for you to have the courage to just say right now, like I didn't like myself, like and and now that you're that's transitioning. And I loved how you said, it's not perfect. It's not like you figured it out, but you've been transitioning. Tell us why you didn't like yourself, Like, what made you feel that way? What put you in
that position? I feel like being able to talk about it, first of all, actually comes from the show. Like one of the things that when people like talk about Davy just really quickly, like when they say, oh, she's so confident, yet she's a nerd. She is very confident still like one percent. She's loud, she's outspoken, but confident about herself. No, she's confident when it comes to grades and being BookSmart, but confident about her own thoughts, her own worth, her
self worth, no way. And it was like this like weird experience of playing this character that I deeply care about, like a younger sister seeing her go through this, but also just knowing that a bunch of people, a whole writer's room wrote this, and that made me realize this isn't such an individual rare experience. So many people go through it, and we should talk about it more. I feel like, you know, loving yourself is so hard because one day you could be like there, you're on your ship.
You're like, yeah, m had a great deal. Next day terrible gone. And that could be because of something as small as like, you know, getting a pimple right in the middle of your face, or getting into like a fight with someone and you feel just like a terrible human beings so true, It's so true. Yeah, And I think you know, I think you're spot on. I mean I look back to being and I love how you said that Davy's like a younger sister to you in the way that you see the see the role. I
think that's such an interesting way to put it. And when I look back at my own self at sixteen, and if I honestly, I think a lot of people around me would have said I was pretty confident that. I think you're right. Like, if I really look inward, were you really now? I wasn't. I don't think I was at sixteen. I mean, sixteen's a really tough age to be actually confident. I mean, you barely know who you are, and you know, I find that a lot of people obviously, I mean you're nineteen now, I believe
so I feel a lot of people also. What I love about what the show has done is that it's opened up this like multi generational conversation, Like it's not even though it's called a teen comedy series. It's like I'm not a teen and I watch it. My wife's not a teen and she watches it. And then I also know like full on parents, adults and uncles and
aunties that are watching it. When you look at things generationally and you look at yourself growing up too, do you think that I feel like we always feel that the next generation doesn't get it, but we were that same generation when we were at that age. Do you ever feel like that when you're looking at Davy's your little sister you're now nineteen you're working with, and do you ever feel that way? Does that make sense for me?
Like it's so interesting whenever people like whenever people talk about like Gen Z versus Gen X, versus millennials versus boomers, and sometimes like I just have to like close my ears about it and just like just say shut up, because at the end of the day, it's just the year you were born and how the world was it when you were born, when you were a kid, when you were at your coming of age Netflix ya moment, and that is totally valid and fair. It's a one
hundred percent a different experience. Like my parents don't get what it means to grow up with technology in your school, right, but they went through things that we wouldn't get. But there's a lot that we can all universally understand, like this idea of loving yourself, like this idea of self confidence just in general mental health that is really universal.
And it sucks because now what I'm finding is that like the generation conversation is starting to divide people of like, oh, that's such a millennial mentality, or like, uh, these like gen z years think they have it all together. They think they're like the bees knees, and it's like, no, you know what, Like to my fellow gen z, we're not the bees knees. We're not better. We're just humans and we all are at the end of the day. So why can't we just all be better despite what
year we were born in. Go where your knee on eighties outfit, Go where your fifties hoop skirts? Like I don't care, just be nice and just talk about these things because there's not that many differences. My grandma learned so much from me. I learned so much from her, Like we talked, She's like my best friend, and I talked to her all the time. She learned so much from me, and I learned a lot from her. And that's like what matters, you know, well said, I love that.
That's that's such a great, great way of putting it, in a great way of sharing it. Tell me, tell me about some of the things. I love hearing about this because my wife's also extremely close to her grandmother, Like real exactly how you just said, they're like best friends. I wanted to know what are some of the things you've shared with each other or land from each other, some of the things you've taught her, some of the things she's taught you. I'd love to hear about some
of that. Yeah, I mean so, like I said, like before, when I was younger in my house, I felt like there was no one I could really talk to because I knew if I was going to talk to my brother and tell him a secret, that was gonna go right back down to Ama. I'm a was gonna find out. I'm gonna be in trouble and I'm gonna get real mad.
But my grandma, she's goaded. She was like my best friend would always like hang out with me, and now it's like she's like she's got Twitter, right, She'll see something on Twitter and she'll like, I mean, she mainly just follows me, but like, you know, she'll see something or like something that someone replies and like it'll be a slang term or like whatever kind of term. Maybe it's something about like the lgbt QI community, and she'll say, like what is this? So I'm like, yeah, mom, I'll
teach you. And then she like knows about it and she's like okay, cool, like things like that, and then I get to learn, of course about how she grew up, of course, but then also just where she's coming from as someone who takes care of my grandfather and someone who has her own challenges. And I'm like, huh, we're not so different, Like we're really not, but yeah, I
love that. It's it's great. You know, those conversations take time and patience because I'm sure that when she's asking you a question, you're having to then see it from her perspective, and yeah, you know, think about it. It's not just like you know, because like you said, she's come from a different time, she's had different experiences. It's
amazing that you've developed that. Where do you think you developed that ability to be patient, to be empathetic The way you're talking, Like when I'm hearing you, you know, there's so much maturity in the way you're sharing how you are navigating this, which is beautiful to see. I'm not surprised at all, you know, it's it's awesome. But I wonder where do you think that came from? Was there an experience that happened in your life or was it through your parents who you're giving so much love
and credit to. Where did that come from or where is that developed from? Is the question. I mean, I'm still a nineteen year old, like loser, like nineteen year old video game You're not a loser, but you're a nineteen year old video game player. Yes, yeah, still that's cool, that's my biggest flex But like I'm still just nineteen and like, you know whatever. But I think the idea of like maybe listening to people, I'm not gonna lie and say like, oh yeah, I listen to everyone and
give them like everyone in my full heart. There's times where it's like hey, yeah, steering clear from you, you know, But when it comes to like sitting down with the people I care about, to hear them out, answer all
their questions, hear where they're coming from, their perspective. I guess it's just me thinking, like, hey, when the tables turn, please hear me out, because there's been times like I've gone through moments in like school, when I was growing up, where I wasn't heard out, you know, and it's like, damn,
it really sucks. And now with the industry, like being thrown into this industry, having no friends family who are in this industry at all, whether they're an actor or writer, director or producer, Like no one has done this in my family or in my circle, and it's such a unique experience that like I have when I talk to them about it. When I have, like, you know, my own issues about it and I'm you know, ranting about something,
I want them to listen to me, you know. I want them to like try their best to put themselves in my shoes, try them their best to empathize and understand, because that's all they can do. They're never gonna know what it's like exactly, but they can empathize and like a little bit of a tangent here. But when it comes to acting, I always get asked, like, what's your method? Have a method? I genuinely don't have a method, Like I've never done an acting class in my life. But
my process is that here's a character. You're gonna play this character, or in order to play this character, you have to believe in every single one of their decisions. You're basically their lawyer and you're gonna have to defend them. So when Davey's doing crazy, crazy things and she's making terrible choices at times, I have to empathize and understand, Okay, kid, why are we making this choice? Like we're gonna do it,
but why where are you coming from? So it's empathy on another level of like okay, because now I'm gonna have to live this. Now, I'm gonna have to make it believable because it's one thing to pick Paxton over Eleanor and Fabiola, but there's another thing to pick Paxton believably and make the audience still actually believe that Davy feels she's making a right choice and have the audience understand that, yeah, this kid genuinely thinks this is the
right choice. It's a bad choice, but we're gonna all empathize with her. Together. You know. I think what you're saying there about knowing why the character would do something and applying that in real life, like if we instead of if you've just said something beautiful day, instead of looking at what people do around us, if we listen to understand why they're doing it, then that's going to help us a lot more, because what people do doesn't
always equate with why we think they're doing it. And even as an actor, as you're saying right now, like understanding why your character wants to do something is what makes it believable, and it's spot on, like you know that that's exactly what makes a difference. I want to
ask you a bit more about that. When you talked about acting, they obviously it started as this escape and so you didn't have to go home and so that you could you could be there and after school did you have a and you said, no one in your family has ever done this before. Did you have a plan B from acting or was acting you were like, I'm all in, I'm going to make this happen. This is going to be my thing. So when I was ten, I decided I wanted to be like a Disney animator
for Pixar. That was the dream. That was the dream for the longest time, up until my last year in high school. And then I realized drawing on other people's time made me miserable, like I could not do it, and I was like, oh my god, Like what am I going to do now? I felt like such a disappointment with myself because I and around school saying like, yeah, I'm gonna be a piaus our animator. I'm gonna like everyone knew, oh, my tree's dream job is to be
an animator. And then I like didn't do it because I was like, I can't. I can't, I'm gonna be miserable. I still went through with my portfolio because I'm stubborn, but I was not happy. And then suddenly I was like, oh my god, what am I doing with my life? I basically just let down ten year old me. I went to Disney World and got all the inspiration that a ten year old could ask for. But while I was applying to universities, my mom she was the one that said, hey, like my three like, why don't you
toss in like an application for theater? Put her in there, put her in the mix. And I was like, yeah, all right, Like fine, it's extra work, but maybe I'll regret it if I don't. Could be fun whatever. My mom recognized my passion for a theater before I did in high school. It was truly just a fun thing, and it was a fun thing that I also went into for like writing my own plays and directing my own play, then being in a musical, multiple musicals, multiple plays.
But I was like, yeah, it's just fun times like I'm not going to be a big actor. But then eventually after I realized, you know, it was one of the first times in my life I was ever proud of myself. I finished my Grade twelve drama exam and I was really proud of myself and I was like, you know what, I do have skill, Like I am not a failure and that's great. So I accepted theater and that was the plan. But the plan wasn't to become a big actor, go work at Netflix. The plan
was we'll see what happens. Maybe community theater is cool, which is awesome, or just in Toronto, like the local theater scene there, that would be great. That would be the ideal. That's beautiful. I love hearing how real that is. That's that's awesome to hear and and also to recognize just how beautiful that would have been if if that's what was meant for you and you were you know,
you were prepared for that. I think so many, so many times we hear now it's almost like, well, if I can't do that, then I don't want to do it right. It's like, well, if I can't do that epitome peak moment, then I don't want to do it at all because it's not good enough. And it's almost like I love hearing from you. You're at the opposite where it's like, hey, if this is all it is,
then yeah, that's fine. Yeah. Yeah, my logicals, if I do just theater in Toronto, that is fine because I would have fun and I would meet cool people, and then I would also have like the priority in my life might be different where I'm just meeting new people and that's where I get joy in my life. It might not be from my career. It might be from friends or you know, family, whatever it may be. Right, So, yeah, how did you pluck up the courage to send that
first audition tape in? Because I feel the reason why I'm honing in on that moment. Is I think doing something like like that for the first time with your mom's camera without any like prep or plan. It's not like you had your acting coach in the room, and you know, Like, I think that all of us struggle with firsts, and all of us struggle with starting. Like I'm sure you speak to tons of people who say
to you like, oh man too, I'm not sure. I'm not good enough, I'm not yes enough, I'm not smart enough, I'm not beautiful enough. How did you block up the car? Tell me that process, like, take us into your mind on that day. So let me start off by saying I was depressed. I was very depressed in my last year of high school, which took a long while for me to come to terms with. Like I didn't think I was. I was, definitely And I almost took a
nap that day. Instead, my best friend texted me and they said, hey, I saw this tweet from Mindy Kaling, like, let's do this. I didn't even know how to use Twitter, Like, I didn't understand the differences between a retweet and a like they're basically the same thing. And basically, you know, my best friend Shahara texted me and I almost said no. I almost said, hey, man, I'm really tired. I think
I'm just gonna take a nap. And then something in me just said, you know what, I haven't, like, I haven't hung out with my best friend in a long bit. I'll just I'll go hang out with Sara is the best. So I said, okay, cool, we'll figure out a time and we'll go to the community center. Because my house is way too loud. There's no way we're going to film a video that's like even decent in here. So
we went to the community center. We figured out after an hour how to work my mom's camera because it kept shutting off so annoying, and then we googled up what a slate is. I didn't know what that was. But then we were flying, we were making our tapes, and the logic was to me, honestly, was Okay, we're gonna send it through this portal. Like it's not even going out in public on the internet or whatever, but like we're sending this through this portal, they might not
ever even look at it generally. I was like, there's a good chance, like they'd never check it out. They'd probably be people all around the world auditioning for this. I have no experience. I made my acting resume on Canva, like the free like here Canva plus I guess I made my acting resume on Canva. My head shot was a photo that my best friend took like outside of my high school wall, and my eyes are squinty because of the sun. It's so messed up, so I didn't
think people would look at it. And with all that in mind, the fact that people all around the world are auditioning for this, I was like, Okay, I'm probably not gonna get this. I have literally no job experience at all. I can't even say of like, you know, done retail, So who cares. I'm gonna just do the best possible job i can because why not. And it's funny.
I have the text from that day with my best friend where we literally say hey, man, like that was really fun, thanks for hanging out with me, and they were like, you know what, we can say we were part of something bigger when the show takes off, we
can technically say we contributed to it. And then I said, yeah, you know what, maybe we'll get royalties for that, like as a joke, And then I said, but it would be pretty sweet if you went to Hollywood, right, and then we were like ha ha, who knows one day, man, maybe one day, and then that was it. That's amazing. I love that story. Thank you for sharing that with us.
I know you've shared it before, but I love it. Yeah, it's such a great story, and I have to have you shared with our audience and community because it's it just you know, I just love how happy you were with what you were doing and how if it didn't go anywhere, it wasn't a thing. It was just like, well we tried, we put it out there into the world, like we'll get like we did, you know, Like I wasn't going to put out something like I didn't believe it, because then in my mind I'd be like, uh, I
didn't give it my best shot. I'm not an athletic person, but if I'm going to play a basketball game with someone, you best know, oh, I'm gonna try my best. Yeah. Will there be a lot of sweating, very much so, probably a lot of falling knees, being skid, maybe a bit of blood, but I will try, you know. Yeah. Yeah, And my mom says like I'm now just living my life purpose and she can see it. She saw it honestly in high school when I was doing all my performances,
because she came to every single one. She saw the joy that it gave me. And I'd have to agree. I feel like acting, being in this creative industry of film and TV, it is my life purpose. Yeah. I love that energy. That's awesome and it and it shines off of your face. Like even though we're not even sitting in front of each other right now, I can I can totally see it. It's it's so real and your passion so true, and it's it's so authentic. I
love it. Tell me about tell me about how that translated to then being on your first day on set, because that's a whole nother Like that's a whole different bowl game now because it's like you've gone from being with your best friend to making a video to now being on set. Where where was the set? Where was it shot? And tell me about that experience from your perspective, not Davy's perspective of yours. Yeah, we always shoot on the universal lot in LA So season two actually entirely
was shot on a lot. We did no locations anywhere else because of COVID, so we got very crafty with you know, spots in different sets. But the first day, I remember the scene exactly. It was the scene where Davy is telling Fabiola and Eleanor that she has chosen attainable yet status enhancing boyfriends for each of us to date. And that was the first scene we ever shot the
entire show. And I remember being so excited that we did one take and lang Fisher says, Okay, so you just you gotta slow down a little, just you gotta slow down a little. And she's like, maybe you're a little nervous, and I was like, honestly, I'm not nervous
at all. I'm just really excited to be here. I was introducing myself to everyone, saying like hi, I might trade round mc christian, like it's your name, trying to get to know everyone, and I was my mentality was the two first things I learned like really quick was Number one, trust everyone to do their job, and then you stick and focus on yours. When you trust and then respect everyone for their job, you'll be swimming because then they will respect you to do yours and they'll
be your biggest champions. Don't worry about what the sound guy's doing. Don't get in the business of the lighting guy. Let them do their thing, because they're respectfully the craft, the masters of their own craft. So when you respect them and you take interest in a genuine, authentic way of actually caring about what they do, they'll recognize that. And then they're gonna light you and mike you up and get the best angle of you that they possibly can,
because now they're on your team. Right. And then the second thing that I like you kept in mind at all times was stay alert and learn everything you possibly can not many get the opportunity. You have the best co op in the world. Learn everything. Don't be afraid to ask questions. And now this is credit to Mindy Kaling and Langfisher because they make such a great atmosphere
where I never felt stupid. I was the only like cast member, number one, the youngest cast member, but also the one that has never in their life been on a set. And despite that, I never felt stupid for it. Were there times where I was like, oh God, I have to cry now. I've never cried on command before. And Sandel is here and he's on like the flash or something and I have to cry and this is a lot. Yeah, that happened, but I never felt dumb and I never felt dub for asking questions. I never
felt dumb for asking for help. And yeah, that's how we got through the days. That's beautiful. That's it's so hard, isn't it, Because that imposter syndrome so real and yeah, and you can often just feel completely out of your depths. But those lessons, actually I was going to ask you, how would you deal with imposter syndrome if you felt it? But those two piece of advice you gave us, two lessons that you take away, actually make a lot of sense and actually come as great pieces of insight for
anyone who's struggling with imposter syndrome. Because and I'm guessing that's not changed. I mean, now you're on you know, front covers of magazines, like you're invited to all these beautiful events as you should be rightly. Have I love that you're bringing your excitement everywhere. Has imposter syndrome ever crept in or have you been really like yeah, tell
us about that process. One percent. It creeps in like every so often sometimes like it's like self love, like you got the confidence one day of like, yeah, I deserve this, I am very proud of myself, amazing, but then the next day it's oh god, oh no, I messed up. I'm terrible, Like people think I'm a joke. And that could be sparked because you see one comment and I used to do this. I'm going to be honest.
I would scroll through comments until I found a negative one, scroll through thousands of positive until I found a negative one. And that would be when I would turn off my phone, which is so unhealthy. But maybe imposter syndrome is sparked because you heard someone say, oh, I wish she like would enunciate more like she speaks weird, And I'm like, you know what, maybe maybe you're right, Maybe I should just I should get a dialect coach for my own voice and my own you know sound. Maybe I should
do that. But you realize that a lot of people go through it, A lot of people go through imposter syndrome. And then you're like, huh, I mean we can't all be imposters, right, Like that makes sense. Some of us have to be genuine, and some of the most genuine people I know go through that. But I remind myself that I have worked hard, and I used to piss me off in season one was when people would say, oh my god, you're so lucky that you got picked.
You're so lucky, and I'm like, yeah, A good bit of fame is a lot a lot about being at the right place at the right time, for sure. But I also worked really hard. Luck sure was getting my audition tape scenting at the right day, at the right time, and somehow that got landed on their screens. And you know, I did all that, But I did work really hard during the audition process. But you know what, even if you want to call the whole audition luck, you can't
call the season luck. Netflix comes out with so many shows a day, but we're one of the biggest shows. That's hard work. Yeah, you know. Yeah. When I ride myself of that, I'm like, you know what, I'm not that big of an imposter. I think I can relax today. Yeah, I don't. I don't think at all. I think so. First of all, when I first watched the season, I would never have been able to tell whether you'd acted before or not. Like I would never have been able
to tell like, no, no, I couldn't say. I couldn't have watched. I been like, she doesn't look like a real like you would never said that you were. You're great from episode one, like you always appear completely comfortable and I believe you as in I have to really talk. I had to prepare today by going, I am not interviewing Davy. I'm interviewing my three like I had to literally be like, do not think of her as Davy
like you have. I've got to as an interviewer, I have to stop thinking you're this character because I believe you're this character, Like I don't have any doubt that you are Davy when you're playing Davy, and I think that is a You know that to me is credit
to your skills. And I always say to people like the people that have success, they should see it as fortune and joy, but everyone else to see it as hard work, because when you see someone else's success as luck, you then think you're unlucky, and then it stops you from working hard. When actually, when you see someone's success as hard work, you go, Okay, I know what I need to do now, and it sets you up. Does
that make sense? Ye get inspired by it. Don't let it defeat your own goals, your own worth, your own journey in life. Right. I feel like whenever people ask me like how do I get into acting? Like how do I do this? In my head, my response is always, I mean, be on the lookout for the next tweet. I guess, like that's all why I did it. But reality is everything happens in different ways for people, especially in the creative industries like music, acting, whatever. It is
so unique for everyone. So you can't get yourself discouraged when you see someone else succeed. At this age, you know, you can't compare yourself. You should appreciate and respect them for their hard work that they did and then being maybe even being inspired by it, you know, but don't let it take down your own self worth. But I was gonna say, I hope talking to me, I don't seem like Davy. It was really funny when season one
came out. It was very funny because some people would look at my success, like you said, as luck, and then they would take it as themselves as they're unlucky, and then that could turn to the other way and then become jealousy, and that was rough. But then people just you know, would either come out of the woodwork to be like, oh my god, my sure, I'm so proud of you. I'm like, we have not talked in
ages what. But then some people would just start being passive aggressive, like oh, you're too big time for us, or just say some jokes that would just be like, hey, dude, I'm not like a changed person. I'm still me. Literally the show even came out in Quarantine. I've been stuck in the same house that you guys come over for
like my birthday parties. Man, like what? But yeah, the best way I know of finding out, like who actually know me is when they say like, oh my god, I watched season one and I was asking myself, were you even acting? You're so much like the character. And I'm like, okay, thank you. So there's that. Yeah, yeah, that's not what I was saying. I was saying that
because we've never met before. My only respective of you is this character, which you play so believably, and and I wanted to make sure today that I'm talking to you and asking questions about you and not about Davy. And so for me, it was more about the saying how believably you play this character. Hence your skills as opposed to thinking you're lucky, because if you were lucky, I wouldn't believe that you were Davy in the show.
I would just be like, oh, this is this is weird, Like who's the you know, like that that would be the whereas I don't feel that way. So and and getting to know you today, yeah, I mean saying you're like Davy is like really stereotyping and just I mean there's no there's no like everyone has so much more depth and layers. And even today, I've discovered so much more about you that I would never have known. And that's that's what I'm hoping my community will too. But
tell us about you know. I love everything you've been sharing. I love the messages that you're sharing with people, especially because it's so hard, and in our South Asian community, it's harder because when we've been less supposed to this happening to people around us and these opportunities being given, so people find it harder to react. You had in your Instagram bio respect existence or expect resistance. I wanted to understand what inspired that statement and what you connected
to deeply in your life. Yeah, I think I saw that like statement somewhere on the internet back when I was in high school somewhere, and I thought, oh my god, wordplay. That is so smart. That was my first thing. But then I was like, yeah, you know what, that's really awesome. And from a Grade twelve art exam, we had to
make a mural. And like, if you scroll back far enough on my Instagram feed, now there's a picture of it, this gigantic mural I painted by myself, of this brown girl and you know, she's got these like rainbow hearts all around her gold background and at the top it
says respect existence or expect resistance. And the whole idea was like, you know, here's this brown girl rambow hearts, you know, symbolizing like the LGBTQI community and just the idea of respect people, you know, and it's this woman, you know, and I just like it as my Instagram bio because it's it makes so much sense to me, you know, respect people's existence, and if you don't, get ready for people to be upset and get ready for that backlash, because you need to respect other people for
who they are. You need to respect the fact that when I say there isn't enough South Asian representation and film. Get ready and respect it, because if you're going to
resist it, you're going to be behind the curve. And suddenly, if you're a writer that isn't willing to add true diversity, not token diversity, to your scripts, no one's gonna want to work with you, because the world's changing, and honestly, it's getting with the ride of getting the car of respecting people for who they are, treating people with respect like the Golden rule or just get out. Yeah, I don't have time for people with that attitude. Yeah, well s.
I love the distinction between true and token diversity. I think that's such an important that's so huge because we hear statements that are token diversity statements all the time.
I was literally just talking to someone last week and they were told by an agency that they wouldn't be signing them because they already have someone who is a brown person in that niche that they're in, And they were like, we already have one of you, and I was just like, and I literally that conversation happened last week, and they were asking me what I thought about that and how to navigate it, and I wanted to ask you how is your view on that on diversity changed
having been someone obviously developing their career to now being on the other side where you have a successful show, you're in the industry, people know you, you know people. Has getting closer to the industry made you feel more excited about what's happening or are you actually seeing more and you're like okay, wow, like you know this team INDI and this team's got it right, but actually there's a lot of work that needs to be done. I want to know how your views changed from before and after.
Definitely the latter, like I actually realized how used to and just you know, conditioned. I became to not seeing people like myself South Asian women on screen until after never have I ever season one came out. Up until that point, I was just okay, I guess with the fact that people like me, we're background characters, quirky best friends that were sexually deprived because that's a lovely stereotype, or that they're just comedic relief. They're shy, they're awkward,
they can't talk to women unless they're drunk. You know, you get used to that. And then the show came out. I met people in the industry, and it made me, yeah, hopeful that things are changing. But honest, I have this like anger in me of like this sucks. If I didn't make it into the industry, I would have maybe just been okay with it all this time, Like this is not okay. And we run around and saying like diversity, like diversity, diversity, We say it so much, but we
have to. It's like, what the other choice do we have, Like it's become this fluff word, but it's such a mandatory fluff word, you know, like it is very important because it's not happening fast enough. In my opinion. Yeah, the needle is moving inch by inch, not even inch millimeter by millimeter. Let me go with my lovely Canadian system. But you know, it's moving like a little bit by
a little bit. But I get so angry sometimes where I just want to push it, you know, because it's not fair to expect a whole community of people to look at Davy and feel represented. I used to think, oh, no, like you don't feel represented by the show. But we worked really hard on it. It's a really good show. We do so much. But then I was like, no, that's selfish of me. I'm falling into the trap that
reality is the white dominant. You know, industry of Hollywood, film TV wants me to to make these people just deal with it. But they shouldn't and I shouldn't. I shouldn't have to settle with Davy being my one, you know, main character role that was truly birthed by a leader in the industry, Mindy Kaling. I shouldn't have to settle for that. I should be able to get all the roles, you know, and keep going with my career. Audiences shouldn't have to settle for just Davy or a Nolany or
Kamala or even a Nissan in season two. They should be able to get all the different kind of characters. If you are so proud in your identity, if you're so proud of it and that is how you identify, it means it's a story worth telling, and nobody can say otherwise. It is definitely worth screen time in some way or another. You know, Yeah, that's so powerful. Thank you for sharing that, my three. It's such a powerful statement. And really, you know, it's emphatic in the way you
said it. It's it's it's strong, it's powerful, it's bold, and that's it's the way it needs to be said. I remember when I first moved to LA, and I'm obviously born and raised in London, hence the British accent and all the rest of it. But when I moved to LA, I remember going to get my hair cut and I remember my head dress is saying to me. They were just like, where are you from? And that's normal.
I always get asked that because if how I look at my accent and they were like they didn't know that Indian people sounded any different or looked any different to Apoo in the Simpsons, Like that was there, like like their their take on you know, what Indian people are. And so they were just like are you Indian? Are you sure? And I was like, yeah, I'm Indian. My parents are both Indian. Yeah I'm sure. Yeah, but we don't sack check. I'll be right back and then you
can cut my hair. Yeah. And it was so funny because I was just like I couldn't been. I was like, and that's and I sat back to think about it. I moved to LA three years ago, and I set back to think about it, and I was like, yeah, wow, like for a certain generation. I grew up on The Simpsons too, and I was like, yeah, anyone who watched The Simpsons like that was the only character that they saw being Indian, right, and so on. TV influence what
we see in the world. It is a reflection of what our world is like, right, So yeah, it makes sense that they're coming and thinking like that's the reality. I mean, if they ever just checked out any article or like, you know, just maybe come sense or just understood colonialism, you know, maybe but they only ever watched cartoons, then that would be what they think. Yeah, exactly, exactly. But what's beautiful is that you've not only you know,
you're not only doing things on screen. I love how you're speaking about these things off screen and interviews and using your platform for a higher purpose. I know that you also did the amazing table read recently for the fundraiser for India, you know, supporting that was so awesome. Well,
it was, it was. I mean, now I wish I asked you to be a part of that, could have interviewed you then, But it's you know, I just thought it was so amazing to just see just so many people using their platform, especially you know what you and
the whole team did. I think it was amazing because you know, I think for so many people you are representing, and I love your I love what you're saying, Like what you just said was so humble and so beautiful about how you don't want to get caught up in the way people want you to think that it's enough
and there should be I love that. But at the same time, you are also through the show doing an amazing service and effort as well, Like you know, it's important for me to say that, and I love the way you're saying it, but I want to acknowledge that.
But then for you and the team to do that for India, I thought that was such a beautiful offering and I wanted to get an understanding from you, like you seem to constantly want to use your platform, and you're ever growing platform for higher purpose, for you know, fighting for the right for education, for standing up, like you said your mom told you to always stand up.
I wanted you to tell me about something that what was one of the first things you tried to stand up for back in the day, or something someone that you try to stand up for and it maybe didn't go how you wanted or maybe you learn something interesting from it. I mean, like, yeah, with all the activism that does stem from how my parents raised me, like
that has always been who I am. Before the show came out, I actually had a picture of like a walkout that I did for public cuts to public education on my Instagram, Like there's some photos and I had some people ask me, are you going to take that down? And I'm like, no, no way, That's still my stance. Don't cut public education. Education is the cornerstone to any thriving society. But yeah, I mean, I'm still just a nineteen year old kid that's learning every day, and it's
very much so capable of mistakes. Whenever I talk about this, I realized it contributes to the pedestal that I feel like I start putting myself on, and then the farther the fall becomes and I have to always remind myself for just nineteen make mistakes, and when you're older, you can still make mistakes. We all can still make mistakes. But back to your original question. Okay, so one of my close friends I don't actually remember this, but they vividly do, and they love to bring it up every
single time we meet new people. And apparently so my friend, fellow Thumble girl, she would always dress up in her traditional clothing, have a putta like she was, you know, braided up. That's how she came to school every day in elementary school, and her mom was like always taking her home for lunch, and you know, she's the best. Shout out to Varsha, but some people would make fun of her for that. I saw her and was like, oh, okay, cool. Like I would wear my brother's hand me downs. That
was like how my family rolled. We weren't going to buy new clothes for me. You just get a baggy, you know, monster car shirt. That's cool. I don't care. But I'd see her and I'd be like, okay, cool. You basically like looked like one of my cousins, so that's nifty. But then these girls were picking on her. I saw one day they were picking on her, and they were like bullying her and like just making fun of her and like getting really up in her space,
and I saw that she was getting anxious. Apparently, I keep saying apparently because I don't remember this, but apparently I went up to them, and it's important to mention. Shout out to my cousins. They all taught me lovely colorful language at like the age of seven. So I went up to them curse them out and said, just you know, leave her alone and yeah. Then they got like, you know, they were like, oh, are you fine? Whatever, Like my tree is like whatever, you're getting at mad?
And then they walked off. And then I just apparently said you're good. She was like yeah, and then I'm like okay, and then I walked away. I wasn't like friends with her at the time. We became friends in like high school, but I was like, okay, cool, thanks, and then I just led. She vidly remembers this. So there you go. There's my time. I I love that. I love that, my three. It has been so much
fun talking to you. I know you've got an extremely busy schedule and so many interviews are doing so it's so grateful you spend time with the on Purpose community. But I want to end with our fast five. So we end every interview with the Fast five round that has to be answered in one word to one sentence maximum, so no longer notice how much I talk. I loved it. I love that you talk. It was great. I loved that you two. All right, So my three rama Christian,
and these are your fast five. The first question is what is the best advice you've ever received? Stick to your morals, don't take no for an answer. Yeah that's two sentences. Crap, that's fine. What is the worst advice you've ever received? I don't know, bad advice. I feel like I would probably want to get rid of that out of my brain as quickly as possible. You know what, bad advice? Don't make a us about it, Like that's not even like advice, Like it's not like I even
took it. But yeah, don't make a fuss about it, right, Yeah, that's a good answer, all right. Question number three, what's the first thing you do in the morning and the last thing you do at night? Oh? Really unhealthy? Go on my phone? What do you do on your phone? Um, it's either a watching cartoons or TikTok social media, but mainly cartoons. Amazing, I love it, all right. Question number four, what's the biggest lesson you've learned in the last twelve months.
It's okay to make mistakes. You're a work in progress. And that's because my mom always calls me that. She always says whenever anyone praises me to my mom and says, your daughters so lovely, Oh my gosh, I love her. My mom just says she's a work in progress. He is unfazed. It could be a compliment from mindy herself, and my mom just says work in progress. Next, next time I see your mom, I'm gonna try the oposite. I'm gonna say, well, first time I see your mom,
maybe not the first time I see your mom. I think I'll I'll be good the festive sea. I think if I ever get to be a mother again, if I get the wonderful fortune, I'll say I think my three is a work in progress. I want to see what actually react. Yeah, just spending on her. Yeah, No, I love that. That's beautiful and and I one of the things I really appreciated in this conversation is how much you kept repeating, Hey, I can make mistakes, and nineteen,
I'll make mistakes. Hey, even if you're older, you can make mistakes. And I love that because I completely agree with you. Like we're all doing things that we were never trained to do, we were never sure we were going to do, and we don't know how humans weren't meant to be watched by millions totally. We can all unequickly agree on the fact that in the evolution, you know, timeline humans were never conditioned or trained or you know, evolved to see and be viewed by millions of people.
It's just the facts. Yeah, yeah, I love that, all right. Fifteen final question it is if you could create one law that everyone in the world had to follow, what would it be? If you buy ice cream, you should buy one for your friend everyone? My three rather Christna make sure you go and what never have I ever? I'd also love for you to tag me and my three on Instagram to let us know, and on Twitter of course let us know. What were your favorite parts?
What were the things that she said that stood out, that resonated and connected with you. I love seeing what truly stays with you when you listen to these episodes, and I'd love for her to see it as well. My three, You've been amazing. I really do look forward to meeting you. You have an open invite to my wife and I was home whenever you're in La, so
please come over and hang out and you can. We are older than you, so you can treat us as you're older, whatever you want to call us, but we truly mean that and look forward to meeting you and thank you for taking the time. Thank you so much. This is actually really fun talk about all these things that I haven't been able to before, so that means that means a lot to me. I laughed a lot today, so I'm glad. I had a lot of fun too. I was laughing the whole time, and I meant it.
I really wanted to get to you know you today, and I'm grateful let you let us do that. So thank you so much. If you want even more videos just like this one, make sure you subscribe and click on the boxes over here. I'm also excited to let you know that you can now get my book Think Like a Monk from thinkli a monkbook dot com. Check below in the description to make sure you order today.